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COSCO on Limassol bidder shortlist

Xinhua, August 10, 2015

• Chinese shipping giant COSCO has been invited by authorities in Cyprus to submit details of its plans regarding the privatization of Limassol port.

  Chinese state radio quoted Alecos Michaelides, president of the Cyprus Port Authority, as saying that the Ministry of Transport has made a shortlist from more than 70 companies that responded to an invitation in June for the commercial development of Limassol, which is the island's main port.

  Michaelides said 12 companies have been preselected for the containers operations, 13 for the general cargo sector and 10 for the sea-services operations.

  COSCO is among the companies that will be invited to present detailed plans before final tenders are invited in November. He did not provide more details.

  Cypriot authorities said they are confident that the opening of the Suez Canal extension will result in increased activity at the Limassol port, which lies at a strategic point in the eastern Mediterranean.

  Transport Minister Marios Demetriades said earlier that he expects Cyprus' strategic position in the region will help to attract shipping business.

  Limassol port operations were among the first state-owned assets slated for privatization under the terms set by international lenders for a 10-billion-euro (US$11 billion) bailout deal Cyprus concluded in March 2013.

  Michaelides, who is also Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said the concession of the port operations to private business will help to improve port services, increase income, and support the general economy.

  Successful bidders will operate under the supervision of the Cyprus Port Authority, which currently administers and operates the port, he said.

  Transport Ministry sources said the process for the concessions at the port is expected to be completed by March.

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